Patient imaging data is a powerful and robust source for developing anatomically accurate and functional 3D models. Having an accurate representation of anatomy available to engineers and designers during product brainstorming and design is an invaluable resource. This blog outlines the process of creating 3D models, and innovative methods to use them throughout medical device development.
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One of the goals of good medical device design is to turn a lot of complicated science and engineering into a simple package that’s easy to use and understand. To help achieve this goal, remember that less is more when designing user interfaces, device enclosures, and instructions.
Why spend time maximizing efficiency in a switch mode power supply? Higher efficiency switching regulators get you more bang out of your buck. In a world of mobile devices, minimizing power consumption is a must. Don’t waste power in the power supply. This blog looks at the sources of inefficiency one would find in a typical buck or boost style DC-DC converter.
When I say temperature sensors, you’ll likely think thermocouples. But today I’d like to discuss NTC thermistors. Medical devices regularly need to measure temperature. Often engineers overlook or under-estimate the inherent challenges. Whether designing in thermal measurement and control capability or just temporarily instrumenting up a test rig, it’s worth thinking about how the device measurement is going to work.
Recently almost every medical device I design requires a stepper motor. After working with these motors so frequently, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about medical device stepper motors, the different types of stepper motor configurations, and how to drive stepper motors properly.
Very few medical devices consist solely of electro-mechanical technologies these days. Most have firmware to drive the core therapeutic or imaging modalities. Medical device software (including an algorithm to compute results), and data transfer logic connect the devices to hospital networks and populate enterprise data warehouses.
Silicon photomultipliers are an exciting technology enabling applications previously only available with large, bulky PMTs to be implemented in small, low-cost, low-power form factors. If you have demanding low-light detection requirements for an upcoming project where a PMT would be too bulky, expensive, or fragile, I strongly encourage you to take a look at silicon photomultipliers.
